Throwout crank arm for sliding doors



Sept. 1, 1953 s.' B. HASELTINE THROWOUT CRANK ARM FOR SLIDING DOORS Filed May 6, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet l ep 1953 s. B: HASELTINE THROWQUT CRANK ARM FOR SLIDING DOORS 3 Sheets-sheaf." 2

Filed May 6, 1948 ll/ ///77 /7/,{/ 177 ////////l"///77// Ill [7777 P 1953 s. B. HASELTINE 2,650,392

THROWOUT CRANK ARM FOR SLIDING DOORS Filed May 6, 1948 3 Sheat-Sheet 3 1 ni enl or:

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Patented Sept. 1, 1953 THROWOUT CRANK ARM FOR SLIDING DOORS Stacy B. Haseltine, La Grange, 111., assignor to W. H. Miner, Inc., Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application May 6, 1948, Serial No. 25,493

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in throwout door supporting crank arms for sliding doors of containers, and more particularly to means for automatically swinging the arms outwardl and inwardly as the door is slid open and closed, and holding the arms in extended position at right angles to the plane of the door while the door is being moved in reverse directions along the container wall in moving the same to and from its fully open position.

One object of the invention is to provide in a sliding door structure for containers including swinging door supporting crank arms slidable along a track, and keeper engaging cam projections on the leading end of the door engageable with fixed keeper sockets for wedging the leading end of the door shut as it is slid to closed position, simple and eflicient means for swinging the crank arms at the leading end a of the door inwardly and outwardly as the door is being slid respectively toward and away from its final closed position, wherein the means for swinging the crank arms is designed so that swinging movements of the crank arms in in and out directions are properly coordinated with the operations of engaging and disengaging the keeper engaging cam fingers and keeper sockets with each other.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for holding the door supporting crank arm of a sliding door in extended position at right angles to the door as the door is being slid along the container Wall, respectively from partly closed to fully open position and from fully open to partly closed position, comprising interengaging clutch elements having camming engagement with each other to efiect automatic disengagement thereof when the door supporting crank arm is forcibly swung toward door closing position, wherein the clutch elements are provided with a plurality of interengaging projections and seats to provide for durability against wear, and wherein the cooperating clutch projections and seats are designed so that they will interfit only when the door supporting crank arm is in said extended position at right angles to the door.

Other objects of the invention will more clearly appear from the description and claims hereinafter following.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a broken elevational view of the lower portion of the side wall of a railway car, provided with a door opening, closed by a sliding door, illustrating my improvements in connection therewith. Figure 2 is an elevational view, on an enlarged scale, of the structure and mechanism below the lower left hand end portion of the door, as shown in Figure 1. Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view, corresponding substantially to the line 33 of Figure 2. Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3, showing the parts in different positions. Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view, corresponding substantially to the line 5-5 of Figure 3. Figure 6 is a top plan view of the lower clutch element and bearing sleeve for the door supporting crank arm of my improved mechanism. Figure 7 is a vertical sectional view, corresponding substantially to the line 1-1 of Figure 6, showing the combined clutch element and bearing sleeve assembled with the sliding carrier for the door supporting crank arm. Figure 8 is an elevational view of the cam bracket which cooperates with the door supporting crank arm for swinging the latter. Figure 9 is a vertical sectional View, on an enlarged scale, of the crank arm shown in Figure 4, corresponding substantially to the line 99 of said figure, the sliding carrier being omitted, the lower end portion of the combined clutch element and bearing sleeve for the crank arm being shown partly in section. Figure 10 is a plan view of the combined clutch element and bearing sleeve, as illustrated in Figure 9. Figure 11 is a bottom plan view of the crank arm shown in Figure 9. Figure 12 is a developed view, showing the cooperating clutch projections and seats of the clutch elements illustrated in Figures 10 and 11.

In said drawings, l0 indicates the side wall of a car or container, which is provided with a door opening ll, closed by a sliding door [2. The door I2 is slidable along the usual top and bottom tracks, the bottom track, which is indicated by [3, only being shown. At the forward or leading end, as seen in Figure 1, the door is provided with top and bottom, outwardly projecting cam fingers or lugs, engageable with keeper sockets on the car wall for camming the front end of the door closed, only the bottom cam lug and keeper socket, which are indicated by I 4 and I5, respectively, being shown in Figure 1 of the drawings. The rear or right hand end of the door is supported by the usual top and bottom crank members, the bottom crank member, which is indicated by 16, only being shown. The crank member 16 is swingingly supported at its inner end on the door l2 by a bearing bracket l1 and is swingingly connected at its outer end to the track 13, having said outer end journaled in the usual sliding carrier I3. The rear end of the door is movable inwardly and outwardly of the door opening, being provided with the usual well-known, manually aotuated operating means for positively swinging the crank arms inwardly and outwardly and for camming the door tightly closed, comprising a rotary operating bar l9, journaled in the bracket ll, provided with a keeper engaging cam member 20, cooperating with a fixed keeper 2|, and intermeshing interrupted gears 22 and 23, indicated in dotted lines in Figure 1, on the bar l3 and crank member l6, respectively, for producing swinging movement of the crank member through an angle of approximately 90 degrees during rotation of the bar l9 through an angle of carrier B slidable on the track l3, a combined K clutch element and bearing sleeve C on the carrier adapted to cooperate with the crank member A, and a fixed cam bracket D having cam means thereon cooperating with the crank member to produce in and out movement of the latter.

The door supporting crank member A comprises an arm 25, a cylindrical shaft portion upstanding from one end of the arm, that is, the outer end, and a depending cylindrical bearing projection or crank pin 2! at its other or inner end. The cylindrical shaft portion 25 is journaled for swinging movement in a bearing bracket 28 of the usual design, mounted on the door l2. The crank pin 27 is journaled for swinging movement in the combined clutch element and bearing sleeve C, which is fixedly mounted in the carrier B, as hereinafter described. The carrier B is of the usual design, except as hereinafter pointed out.

The crank member A is positively swung inwardly and outwardly in the usual manner when the door is slid toward the final closing position and from fully closed to partly open position by engagement with the upper and lower cam projections 29 and 33 on the cam bracket D, the arm 25 being provided with projecting, radially spaced, upper and lower cam fingers 3| and 32 at its outer end, which cam fingers are at different levels and are engageable respectively with the cam projections 23 and of the cam bracket D. The cam bracket D is fixed to the Wall l0 below the door opening near the left hand end of the same, as seen in Figure 1. As shown most clearly in Figures 3 and 4, the top and bottom cam projections of the bracket D are in the form of cam lugs, which are spaced apart lengthwise of the bracket D, the projection or lug 29 being at the left hand end of the bracket and the projection or lug 30 being at the right hand end of the same. The outer end of the arm 25, that is, the end which is provided with the crank pin 21, is enlarged, as shown, said enlarged portion being in the form of a head 33 on which the fingers 3| and 32 are formed. At the headed end, the lower side of the arm 25 is provided with spaced, radial clutch projections 34 and 35, arranged in annular series around the pin 21. The clutch projections 34 and 35 are arranged and designed, as shown most clearly in Figure 12, the projections 34 being two in number and diametrically opposite and of greater length than the projections 35, which are four in number and arranged in pairs alternated with the projections 34. Each projection 34 and 35 has a flat bottom face 35, an upwardly inclined face 31 at one end, and a vertical fiat face 38 at the other end. The clutch projections 34 and 35 ride on the combined clutch and bearing sleeve C, which is seated in a vertical bore 39 in the carrier B. The sleeve 0 is locked against rotation with respect to the carrier by projecting lugs 43-45 at opposite sides thereof, engaged in upwardly opening seats |40-| 40 in the carrier at diametrically opposite sides of the bore 39. The sleeve C serves as a bearing for the crank pin 21 of the arm 25, which is rotatably journaled in said sleeve. At the upper end, the sleeve C is provided with clutch seats 4| and Y42 adapted to 0.0- operate with the clutch projections 34 and 35. The seats 4| and 42 are formed by upstanding lugs 43 and 44, each lug having an inclined face 45 at one end and a straight vertical face 46 at the other end thereof adapted to cooperate with the inclined and vertical faces 31 and 38 of the lugs 34 and 35. The clutch projections or lugs 34 and 35 and the seats 4| and 42 are proportioned and designed so that they will interfit only when the crank arm 25 is in the extended position at right angles to the door, the lugs 34 and 35 in all other operative relative positions of the crank arm riding on the lugs 43 and 44. In Figure 9, which illustrates the crank member A with the arm disposed in the position it occupies when at right angles to the door, the clutch projections 34 and 35 are seated in the seats 4| and 42. As the crank arm is swung toward the left to move the door into the door opening, the inclined faces 31 of the lugs 34 and 35 ride upwardly on the inclined faces 45 of the lugs 43 and 44 and onto said lugs to disengage the projections 34 and 35 from the seats 4| and 42. Inasmuch as the swinging movement of the crank member A is limited to an angle of degrees in moving the door into and out of the door opening, and the lugs 34-34 of the clutch element of the crank arm 25 are diametrically opposite, as well as the seats 4|-4| of the combined clutch element and bearing sleeve C within which the lugs 34-34 engage, the lugs 3.434 will register with the seats 4|4| only when the crank arm 25 is in its extended right angular position with respect to the door, and the clutch element will be held disengaged at all other times during swinging movement of the crank arm due to the clutch lugs of the crank arm riding on the clutch lugs of the sleeve C, the seats 4242 between the lugs 4444 of the sleeve C being too short to permit the lugs 3434 to drop into the same.

As will be evident, by providing the additional clutch lugs 35 and cooperating seats 42, which are interengaged only when the crank arm 25 is at right angles to the door, thereby increasing the number of engaging portions of the clutch elements, greater durability against wear is produced, particularly, of the inclined faces of the lugs.

The operation of my improved mechanism is as follows: Assuming that the door I2 is closed, the attendant follows the usual procedure in forcing the door out of the door opening by rotating the bar l9 by means of the operating handle lever 24 and then manually sliding the door along the track l3 away from the door opening. During the first stage of this operation, as the bar I9 is being rotated and the rear end of the door is being forced outwardly by the cam members of the bar and swinging movement of the crank members, sliding movement of the door to the right, as seen in Figure l, is initiated. This movement of the door to the right is continued during the second stage of the operation, that is, the operation of manually sliding the door open. As the door is thus traveling toward its open position, the finger 32 of the crank member A comes into engagement with the fixed cam lug 30 and rides over said lug, thus eifecting forcible swinging movement of the arm 25 of the crank member A from the dead center position shown in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 5 toward the right angular position shown in Figures 4 and 9. This swinging movement of the crank arm 25 to its position at right angles to the door and car wall brings the door into parallelism with said wall. As soon as the crank arm 25 reaches its right angular position, the clutch projections 34 and 35 come into registration with the seats 4| and 42 and drop into the same to lock the crank arm in its extended right angular position, as seen in Figures 4 and 9, the inclination of the faces 31 and 45 of the clutch elements being sufficiently steep to prevent relative turning of the clutch elements until the clutch element of the crank arm is forcibly moved by the cam member 29 being engaged by the cam finger 3| of the crank arm in the operation of sliding the door closed.

In closing the door, the usual procedure of manually sliding the same to partly closed position and then forcing it tightly shut by operation of the rotary bar I9 is followed. As the door is traveling toward the closed position shown in Figure 1, the finger 3| of the crank arm 25 comes into engagement with the lug 29, thereby forcibly moving the arm 25 and effecting disengagement of the clutch elements, the clutch lugs 34 and 35 of the crank arm riding upwardly on the inclined faces 45 of the clutch lugs of the sleeve C. During further sliding movement of the door, the arm 25 is positively swung toward the position shown in Figure 3 by the action of the cam lug 29 and the cam lugs 34 and 35 ride upon the lugs 43 and 44 of the sleeve C, maintaining the clutch elements disengaged.

From the preceding description taken in connection with the drawings, it will be evident that by providing separate and distinct cam fingers 3| and 32 on the crank arm 25, which fingers are at different levels, cooperating with the longitudinally spaced cam lugs 29 and 30, which are also at difierent levels, swinging movement of the crank arm is efiected independently in opening and in closing movements of the door, thereby assuring that the keeper lugs l4 at the leading end of the door will be accurately engaged with and radially disengaged from the keeper sockets [5 in the respective closing and opening movements of the door.

I claim:

1. In a door construction for a container having a wall provided with a door opening and a sliding door for closing said opening, the combination with guide means on said container wall extending lengthwise of the same; of a carrier slidable on said guide means; a crank member supporting said door on the carrier, said crank member being swingable in reverse directions to move said door laterally into and out of the door opening; upper and lower cam lugs fixed to said wall; and upper and lower, radially projecting cam fingers on said crank member, one of said fingers being engageable with one of said cam lugs in sliding movement of the door in one direction for swinging the crank member inwardly, and the other of said fingers being engageable with the other of said lugs in sliding movement of the door in a reverse direction for swinging said crank member outwardly.

2. In a door construction for a container having a wall provided with a door opening and a. sliding door for closing said opening, the combination with guide means on said container wall extending lengthwise of the same; of a carrier slidable on said guide means; a crank member supporting said door on the carrier, said crank member being swingable in reverse directions to move said door laterally into and out of the door opening; upper and lower cam lugs fixed to said wall, said lugs being spaced apart lengthwise of said wall; and upper and lower, radially projecting, angularly spaced cam fingers on said crank member, one of said cam fingers being engageable with one of said cam lugs in sliding movement of the door in one direction to swing said crank member inwardly, and the other of said fingers being engageable with the other of said lugs in sliding movement of the door in a reverse direction for swinging said crank member outwardly.

STACY B. HASEL'I'INE.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 449,065 Bennett Mar. 24, 1891 1,375,689 Gallagher Apr. 26, 1921 1,913,046 Callan June 6, 1933 2,504,263 Haseltine Apr. 18, 1950 2,534,443 Haseltine Dec. 19, 1950 

